The Story of Brainwashing and Exploding Eye-Balls

Sword Art Online Alicization Episode 19 Review

After spending a week recapping, this episode looks like it is going to go much the same way with Kirito and Alice still chatting on the ledge outside the tower. Amazingly enough, Alice ‘feels’ that she does know the name ‘Selka’ and so concludes Kirito must be telling the truth about everything and therefore determines to fight against everything she’s been protecting up until now.

I don’t know about you, but this seemed way too easy. I mean, the best cons are the ones that seamlessly blend the truth with the lie. Just because Alice had a sister named Selka doesn’t mean that Kirito was being truthful about the rest of the stuff he said but Alice accepts the whole lot at face value based on one feeling.

Anyway, we already knew what happened to those who tried to break the laws and Alice’s eye begins giving her the alert. Despite being warned by Kirito, or maybe because of it, Alice chooses to defy the law anyway and pop. I just have to say, that has to hurt.

We then cut to Eugeo who is having some nightmare before he wakes up and goes through his own kind of brainwashing. Again it seems a little too simple to convince him, but I guess there’s something going on inside his head as well as the words being said as it seems like his memories are getting cut off or skewed so that might explain it. Honestly though, it all seemed a little too easy and what kind of argument is ‘your mother didn’t only love you’. Of course one person had love for more than one other individual.

Anyway, despite the usual issues when anime characters seem to get brainwashed or hypnotised in about three seconds, this leads to an interesting possibility now that it seems like Alice is joining Kirito and Eugeo is joining the other side. Now it would just be nice to get to some of those interesting possibilities and not have another episode with Kirito and Alice sitting on a ledge.

12 thoughts on “The Story of Brainwashing and Exploding Eye-Balls”

As each week passes, it becomes more clear why this story needs to take an entire year to tell. There are certainly good elements here with this arc- I think a showdown between Kirito and Alice vs Eugeo would be interesting but at times it feels like this arc is going at a snail’s pace. I agree with the rushed nature of Eugeo’s acceptance at the end of the episode. In the case of Alice thta makes more sense to me. It seems like the Knights don’t really lose everything and Alice always had a sense of doing the right thing and in the case of joining Kirito she said was convinced when they discovered the creatures being allowed to hang out at the cathedral that something was up. So that doesn’t bother me too much. Hopefully we will see some action in the next episode or better yet a glimpse of what is happening in the real world. That plot element is almost non existent at this point.

“I don’t know about you, but this seemed way too easy. I mean, the best cons are the ones that seamlessly blend the truth with the lie.”

I was conflicted. On one hand, I had the same feeling, at least initially. But the narrative did suggest that Alice had the ability to tell truth from fiction, and that would have explained at least some of what we saw.

It’s such an important point that I wish the script had been a little more clear on that point.

“Anyway, despite the usual issues when anime characters seem to get brainwashed or hypnotised in about three seconds,”

What is it with male characters? “Hey, this woman I just met is taking her clothes off. Seems legit!”

There were a few points this episode I wish the episode had been clearer about. I mean we can just kind of go with it and ask no questions, and it makes enough sense, but it all kind of crumbles under just a little bit of questioning because there isn’t much holding up the story at this point.

Yeah everything looked way too easy for me. With Alice I kind of get it because of the dark creatures on the tower and how Kirito explained her lack of memories. Eugeo was way left field for me. He doesn’t remember Kirito as a child so why would seeing child kirito with child Alice bother him. Plus Eugeo earned the respect of his entire town, has a very loyal best friend and even had a studen with feelings for him. Seeing Eugeo swayed to believe nobody loved him was odd.

It feels like there must have been more going on with him being manipulated but it all just seemed rushed and like they wanted to get through it as fast as possible. Which kind of takes away any drama from it.